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Discernment, decision making, the art of seeing and synthesising

There is an old story about the war in the valley. The kind of war that had horses, swords, and armour. The leader of the one side of the battle is in the valley, and the leader of the other side of the battle is on top of the mountain overlooking the valley, with an information relay team transmitting data from the valley up to the leader, and the leader transmitting information from his vantage point down to his troops. Not only does he have a birds eye view of the war in the valley, he can also see what is coming on the other side of the mountain.

The greater the capacity you have to see the more likely you will make better decisions. But seeing is not just seeing with eyes of what is in front of you. Seeing also implies sensing in….the wise use of intuition. A brain that has the capacity to hold multiple perspectives simultaneously will also have the capacity to see complexity, and navigate its rough terrains. Seeing, sensing and tuning in are highly refined skills requiring an aspect of internal stillness and deep attention.

What then do we do with our seeing and sensing? How is our skill of synthesising? Are we able to connect dots that others may not be able to connect? Experience patterns that few will recognise? For without the ability to synthesise we have data without interpretation.

Only when we have a high skill in both seeing and synthesising will we be able to practice high level discernment.

The road to skills in all of these areas includes…practice, time, working with complexity, deep personal development, systemic awareness, mental agility, intuitive training, some form of meditation or listening practice, an inquiry based practice either solo of via a coach/mentor/teacher.

Refined skill in these areas results in a much high value proposition. Or, in plain English, your monetary worth in our current market should be high.

More than this…the ability to make wise decisions in the face of increasing complexity is rare indeed.

2 Comments on “Discernment, decision making, the art of seeing and synthesising”

Christine, I resonate with what you’re saying here and would add Simplicity … from my experience while Seeing and Synthesizing are essential for the best outcomes … where you need to engage others being able to simplify to communicate a complex idea is as well … but maybe you’ve included that? Lee from Halifax Canada

Hi Lee,
yes I agree…to be able to communicate complexity simplicity is very helpful. Of course simplicity can only be arrived at ‘at the other side of complexity”…or once we have fully understood the issue at hand.